Random Goodness, 10/5
Posted: October 5th, 2008 | Author: kamau | Filed under: film, music, photography | Comments Off
Screenshot from New York Times slideshow of Eritrea’s art deco architecture
PHOTOGRAPHY: NY Times slideshow: Relics of a Long-Gone era in Eritrea. Frozen in time classic Italian-inspired art deco architecture found in Etritrean towns like Asmara and Massawa.
Trailer for “Black Orpheus”, directed by Marcel Camus starring Marpessa Dawn and Breno Mello
FILM: RIP Marpessa Dawn. Dawn played Eurydice in 1959’s Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus) which was a retelling of the Greek myth “Orpheus and Eurydice” set in Rio de Janeiro at Carnaval. With its all-black amateur cast it was both hailed for introducing the world to bossa nova and criticized for stereotyping Rio de Janeiro’s black poor. Despite that and the cringingly wooden dialog, it is an important film to watch. For one, it illistrates the power of myth to depict the universality of the human condition (love, fate, death, rebirth) free of time and place. For another, Camus went into documentary mode to film the carnaval and dance scenes and captured the fleeting moments of authentic happiness that favelistas enjoyed during carnaval, as respite from the sea of endless sadness that would have been the life of being poor and black in Rio de Janeiro. Spooky: Breno Mello, who played Orpheus also passed away recently, just 41 days before Marpessa Dawn.
